Citizen Science @ Mountain Lake

Rachel Davis, Middle School Science Teacher and iPad Coordinator, Maggie Jo Feldman, MS Art Teacher, and Alison Trujillo, MS Spanish Teacher, teamed up for a fabulous Earth Day project! Along with the Grade 6 students, they released the Pacific Chorus Frog at Mountain Lake, making it the second native species reintroduced as part of our efforts to restore the ecosystem at the lake.

Here is a brief interview with the team recapping the experience:

Q: What grade level were you working with?A: Grade 6

Q: What were your goals going into the project?A: To raise awareness for the students so they could understand the human impacts on Mountain Lake. As they learned about it, they wanted to inform the public about these issues and the ways that people could help to restore the lake. Another goal we was to collaborate between subjects: Science, Art and Spanish.

Q: How did you roll out the project?A: Leading up to Earth Day, we took a half-day wherestudents designed beautiful and informative images that are on painted wood panels. During that time, they also created Spanish and English movies to explain the issues the images represented. Visitors to the National Park can scan QR codes attached to the panels to view the videos.

Q: If you were to do the project again what (if anything) would you change?A: The time line was really tough. Next time, we’d like more time to connect with the park for planning purposes. This project would also benefit from more preparation time given to the students for cutting and designing the wooden boards. Looking ahead, we think we’ll also put more of an emphasis on teaching about the history of public art.